By Mary Agnes Welch
Winnipeg Free Press
Brandon-Souris should have been a Tory cakewalk.
It’s a riding the Conservatives have held for all but four of the last 60 years, one they won with nearly two thirds of the vote in the last election, one few expected to turn into a messy, neck-and-neck throw-down after backbench MP Merv Tweed resigned suddenly over the summer.

OTTAWA—Environment Minister Peter Kent says a federally funded research facility that studies water pollution contributed to his department’s national mandate, but he approached the premier of Manitoba to help fill a void in the wake of budget cuts.

OTTAWA -- Canada's 13 provincial and territorial leaders gather in Halifax this week for what could be one of the most important premiers' meetings in years, with the controversial new federal health funding deal, efforts to trim medical costs and a pan-Canadian energy strategy expected to dominate discussion.